Q: A new form of worshiping God is emerging. It involves using images that flash across big video screens and flashy music that caters to young evangelicals -- reportedly called "the Emerging Church." In one reported case, church members meet in the round and sit in couches and recliners instead of pews. The movement has been called an effort to spread the gospel to those who feel alienated from current and traditional forms of worship. But some worry that this movement, which is finding new ways to "experience" faith and interpret its tenets, could lead to people leaving faiths and the tenets of those faiths altogether. What do you think?
A: Mine is not to criticize another person's form of worship. Means by which people approach the sacred vary and, like all art forms, find their validity in the eye (or soul) of the beholder.
Forms of worship do not change or alter the message. The Christian message was, is and will always be the same: Love is the path for our physical and spiritual salvation.
The Armenian Church as an ancient Orthodox church has been criticized from within for its long liturgical worship forms. Contemporary means and approaches to worship have long been debated within the church ranks. And as a youth outreach leader I am especially sensitive to the issues of liturgical reform.
In our experience, we have found the answers in our roots. We are called an "Apostolic" church because we trace our lineage to the Apostle Thaddeus, but even more important, we celebrate our Christian experience in the same manner as the Apostles. That is, the worship and community life are centered around the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the outward expression of love.
Through the years, we've discovered what we all have always known. People don't choose one church over another because of music, décor, programs, etc. Rather, they are looking for a place where they are loved and can love.
Jesus Christ was the first pastor to offer this in his church. The apostles did the same. The challenge is now passed along to us. If flashing videos, projected pictures and deejay music are the lure, their enduring power will be tested by the message they herald. There is no alternative to an environment based on love.
FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN
Armenian Church Youth Ministries
Mine is not to criticize another person's form of worship. Means by which people approach the sacred vary and, like all art forms, find their validity in the eye (or soul) of the beholder.
Forms of worship do not change or alter the message. The Christian message was, is and will always be the same: Love is the path for our physical and spiritual salvation.
The Armenian Church as an ancient Orthodox church has been criticized from within for its long liturgical worship forms. Contemporary means and approaches to worship have long been debated within the church ranks. And as a youth outreach leader I am especially sensitive to the issues of liturgical reform.
In our experience, we have found the answers in our roots. We are called an "Apostolic" church because we trace our lineage to the Apostle Thaddeus, but even more important, we celebrate our Christian experience in the same manner as the Apostles. That is, the worship and community life are centered around the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the outward expression of love.
Through the years, we've discovered what we all have always known. People don't choose one church over another because of music, décor, programs, etc. Rather, they are looking for a place where they are loved and can love.
Jesus Christ was the first pastor to offer this in his church. The apostles did the same. The challenge is now passed along to us. If flashing videos, projected pictures and deejay music are the lure, their enduring power will be tested by the message they herald. There is no alternative to an environment based on love.
FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN
Armenian Church Youth Ministries
The "Emerging Church" movement has some very admirable qualities.
I welcome the heartfelt desire to know God in an experiential way. I see great value in organizational simplicity. I embrace change in how we worship when those changes reach people more effectively for Christ.
The form of Christian worship changes, and should change, from time to time. And each generation and denomination in the church must humbly admit that none of us has ever gotten everything exactly right regarding Christian faith and practice.
But when Doug Pagitt, an influential Emerging Church pastor, remarks that "Christianity is simply not a stagnant belief" (PBS, July 8) it is time to become very cautious.
I understand the Emerging Church's reaction against the mindset that we have everything about God all figured out. Any honest student of scripture and life will have to admit that we don't.
But this movement cannot lose sight of the fact that the Christian faith has been "once for all delivered to the saints" in Scripture (Jude 1:3). This faith will always be about having a vital relationship with a perfect, eternal, divine, revealed and unchanging person, Jesus Christ the Son of God.
PASTOR JON BARTA
Valley Baptist Church
Burbank
I suppose it is inevitable that many churches will "go modern" -- in fact, many already have. As for me, I am glad that I am near the end of my ministerial career rather than at the beginning. I enjoy traditional modes of worship. I would not want to change to the more raucous form of worship.
I enjoy a peaceful, quiet sanctuary, with at least 10 minutes of solitude in prayer and meditation, good music, and a sound positive, loving message. It seems to me that people who want entertainment and excitement with gadgets and gimmicks are looking in all the wrong places. The very best place to look for excitement, spiritually speaking, is within. Those who want good music, uplifting prayer, and a message of hope and faith do not need all the vanity trappings of the "modern church."
Nothing is more exciting to me than a message that helps people live better lives. That is what the Unity movement is all about -- helping people express their divinity right where they are. Our motto is, by the way, Unity: A Way of Life. Our way of life is almost Quaker-like in its simplicity and solitude and peacefulness. I wouldn't change it for the world.
THOMAS E. WITHERSPOON
Unity Church of the Valley
La Crescenta
A perennial issue with denominations, churches, and the pastors who lead them, is how to best engage their culture in time with the timeless message of God as recorded, preserved and practiced throughout the ages. The current "Emergent Church" movement is an example of how these considerations have begun to be put into a postmodern package, offering fellowship and free spiritual inquiry to the latest generation; allowing them a new opportunity to "question authority."
One of the marks of this movement is the aesthetically enriched worship environment of its meetings, but these would be recognized by most traditional churchgoers as little more than souped-up small group home Bible studies.
There's nothing wrong with doing church differently, but just as the movement seeks to draw on the best of religious faith to provide individuals more personal ownership of their own souls, it lacks any solid foundation in biblical revelation.
Its leading spokesmen, Brian McClaren, said "I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion." As an adherent to the Christian religion, let me say that people can believe what they wish, but I cannot endorse a movement that has all the smells and bells of appeal for the youth, yet none of the meat and potatoes of Christ's gospel to actually change their lives for time and eternity. "Emergent" churches have no creeds because they seem to have accepted much of the relativism of the day, and few would even agree that they believed much in common with like-minded sister churches.
If regular churches can learn to be more appealing from this movement, wonderful, but we must do so without becoming biblically appalling. Truth stands, and suffering only follows its rejection (Galatians 1:8-9), however culturally attuned.
REV. BRYAN GRIEM
Senior Pastor
Light On The Corner
Montrose
The point must be made at the outset that there is no "right" or "correct" way to worship God.
The traditional church setting has evolved over the centuries. For example, in Christianity's earliest years, worship services were held in people's homes. So I'm not particularly upset by experimental or "new" ways to worship. I'm reminded of Jesus' comment regarding the wineskins and not putting new wine in old wineskins.
He may have been getting at a different issue, but the point seems relevant here. My denomination has a church in Las Vegas (Northwest Community Church) that has tables in front of every seat, and worshippers are urged to get up during the service to refill their coffee cups if they so desire!
The only possible worry I might have has to do with the gospel message. Informality is fine, and trying new ways to reach people is fine. But the message of the majesty of God must not be watered down, and any "feel good" theology has to be counter-balanced with the publican's lament in the gospels, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
So how does one worship, in Isaiah's term, "the Holy One of Israel"? It matters little whether one sits in a pew, a recliner, a sofa, or even a park bench!
THE REV. SKIP LINDEMAN
Congregational Church of the Lighted Window, United Church of Christ
La Cañada Flintridge